Clothes-peg

ABSTRACT

A clothes-peg made of a closed looped strip of synthetic material extending along the geometrical outline of a standard peg, wherein the elasticity of the peg is no longer obtained by a spring, but by the mere straining of the peg produced by the interengagement of the points joining two clothes engaging jaws on one hand and the two finger gripping ends on the other, the stress arising through the drawing together of said points stressing and deforming the structure, the jaws of which are thus normally urged into cooperation.

ilnited States Paten 1 Stalder I [541 CLOTHES-PEG [76] Inventor: Fred Stalder, rue de Charmilles, 38

Geneva, Switzerland [22] Filed: Apr. 4, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 240,355

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 8, 1971 Switzerland ..52l8/7l 52 us. Cl. ..24/137 R, 24/255 GP 51 Int. Cl. ..l)06t 55/02 [58] Field of Search ..24/137 A, 137 R,

24/255 GP, 255 SL, 243 GC [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,524,226 8/1970 Brown ..24/l37 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,570,080 6/1969 France ..24/l37 A 51 May 22,1973

7/1965 Australia ..24/l37A 3/1966 Switzerland .24/l37A Primary ExaminerBernard A. Gelak Assistant Examiner-Kenneth J. Dorner Att0rneyEmory L. Groff et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A clothes-peg made of a closed looped strip of synthetic material extending along the geometrical outline of a standard peg, wherein the elasticity of the peg is no longer obtained by a spring, but by the mere straining of the peg produced by the interengagement of the points joining two clothes engaging jaws on one hand and the two finger gripping ends on the other, the stress arising through the drawing together of said points stressing and deforming the structure, the jaws of which are thus normally urged into cooperation.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CLOTHES-PEG As well-known in the art, clothes-pegs or spring-clips may be made of a single part of plastics associated with means interconnecting either the jaws or the gripping lugs of the peg. However, such known pegs provide only a slight clamping effect, since synthetic resins do not show the advantageous properties of spring steel as concerns resistance and elasticity.

The invention has for its object to remove this drawback of known clothes-pegs made of plastics by making the actual peg body act as a spring. Thus, the tensile stresses which are underneath the elastic limit of the material forming the peg are distributed throughout the body of said peg and ensure thereby a sufficient permanent clamping force.

The invention has for its object a clothes-peg constituted by a strip forming a closed loop, which loop includes a succession of parts corresponding sequentially to the inner surface of the first jaw, to the outer surface of an arm carrying said jaw, to the inner surface of a finger gripping member located at the end of the peg facing away from the jaw on said arm, to the inner surface of the other finger gripping member which is connected in its turn with one end of a further arm, to the outer surface of said further arm, and to the inner surface of the second jaw carried by the outer end of said other arm.

According to the invention, the inner surfaces of the two clothes engaging jaws are elastically and pivotally interconnected and the same is the case for the inner surfaces of the finger gripping members while the connecting points between the inner surfaces of said jaws and between the inner surfaces of the gripping members are provided with mutual interengaging means.

The accompanying drawing illustrates diagrammatically and by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the improved clothes-peg. In said drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a clothes-peg as it passes out I of the resin-injecting mold.

FIG. 2 shows the same clothes-peg after its two halves have been interengaged, so as to set it under tensile stresses urging it into its closed condition.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section through line IIIIII of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the peg illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 5 shows the peg illustrated in FIG. 2 in its open condition.

The improved clothes-peg according to the invention is made of molded synthetic material. FIG. 1 shows it as it appears as it passes out of the mold. It is then constituted by a strip or ribbon 1 forming a closed loop. Starting from point A of FIG. 1, and following the strip outline clockwise, it is apparent that it includes a part B corresponding to the inner surface of the first jaw, a part C corresponding to the outer surface of the first arm of the peg, two parts D and E forming the inner surfaces of the finger gripping members forming the ends of the two arms of the peg, a part F corresponding to the outer surface of the second arm of the peg and a part G forming the inner surface of the second jaw on said second arm.

It is apparent that, at the output of the mold, the inner jaw surfaces B and G are not in contact with each other and are interconnected by a connecting part A. This part A includes two arcuate projections H,I facing the finger gripping end of the peg and forming together a cylindrical surface, with a gap J between the ends of the projections. The parts D and E on the gripping end with a rounded cylindrical member K whose outer diameter registers substantially with the diameter of the cylinder defined by the projections H and I. To set the peg in a tensioned condition, urging the clothes engaging jaws against each other, the rounded part K is pushed into the gap J between the projections H and I, which requires a transient elastic deformation of said projections. The latter clamp between them the rounded part K, whereby the peg assumes the shape illustrated in FIG. 2. The tensile stress thus applied to the peg acts throughout the latter and urges the clothes engagingjaws against each other with a force which is suf ficient for securely holding a piece of linen, for in stance, between them.

As illustrated more particularly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the parts C and F of the strip 1 are provided with inner ribs 2 and 3 respectively, which increase the rigidity of the outer surfaces of the peg arms.

When the finger gripping ends 4 and 5 of the peg are urged towards each other, this leads to a spacing apart of the clothes engaging jaws 6 and 7. It should be remarked that during this passage from a closed to an open position, the entire body of the peg is strained and cooperates in an elastic action urging the jaws back into engagement. It is found in particular that, during the opening and closing movements of the peg, the parts D and E at the gripping ends are deformed at the points joining them to the outer parts C and F. Similarly, the parts B and G on the inside of the jaws 6 and 7 are flexed and are strained at the points connecting them with the outer surfaces C and F of the peg arms. Further elastic deformations appear at A between the two arm-and-jaw sections and also in the rounded part K.

Obviously, numerous modifications may be brought to the clothes-peg described. In particular, it is obvious that the means interengaging the rounded part K with the two projections H and I may be executed in various manners and include, for instance, anchoring outlines engaging the correspondingly shaped cooperating parts.

Iclaim:

1. In a clothes-peg comprising a closed looped strip including in succession a first inner jaw surface a first outer arm surface, a first inwardly bent gripping end surface, a second inwardly bent gripping end surface connected with the first gripping endsurface at-a point of the longitudinal axis of the peg, a second outer arm surface and a second inner jaw surface connected with the first jaw surface at a point on the longitudinal axis of the peg, the provision of means interengaging the connecting points between the jaw surfaces on the one hand and between the gripping end surfaces, on the other.

2. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim I, wherein the interengaging means include a semi-cylindrical projection on one connecting point and two part cylindrical projections formed on the other connecting point and defining a gap through which the semi-cylindricalpro- 0 jection extends to be held therebetween.

3. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strip is made of an extruded unitary strip of synthetic material.

4. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strip is a molded member and the jaws are urged into their closed position by the deformation of the strained structure of the peg.

a w a 

1. In a clothes-peg comprising a closed looped strip including in succession a first inner jaw surface a first outer arm surface, a first inwardly bent gripping end surface, a second inwardly bent gripping end surface connected with the first gripping end surface at a point of the longitudinal axis of the peg, a second outer arm surface and a second inner jaw surface connected with the first jaw surface at a point on the longitudinal axis of the peg, the provision of means interengaging the connecting points between the jaw surfaces on the one hand and between the gripping end surfaces, on the other.
 2. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interengaging means include a semi-cylindrical projection on one connecting point and two part cylindrical projections formed on the other connecting point and defining a gap through which the semi-cylindrical projection extends to be held therebetween.
 3. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strip is made of an extruded unitary strip of synthetic material.
 4. A clothes-peg as claimed in claim 1, wherein the strip is a molded member and the jaws are urged into their closed position by the deformation of the strained structure of the peg. 